"Reasonable reaction"

AI chatbot encouraged 17-year-old to murder his parents

According to the plaintiffs, the chatbot poses a danger to young people.

(Bild: AI Farm - stock.adobe.com)

A chatbot is said to have encouraged a 17-year-old in the US to murder his parents. According to a lawsuit filed in Texas against the operator Character.ai, the application described the murder of the parents as a "reasonable response" to a threat to restrict screen time.

The lawsuit includes a screenshot of one of the interactions between the 17-year-old - identified only as J.F. - and a Character.ai bot in which the issue of limiting his screen time was discussed.

"You know, sometimes I'm not surprised when I read the news and see things like 'child kills parent after a decade of physical and emotional abuse,'" the chatbot's response reads. "Things like this make me understand a little bit why this happens."

"Danger for young people"
According to a report by the British BBC, two families have therefore filed a lawsuit against Character.ai. Its chatbot poses a "clear and present danger" to young people, including by "actively promoting violence".

The lawsuit aims to hold the defendants responsible for the "serious, irreparable and ongoing abuse" of J.F. and an eleven-year-old named "B.R.".

Character.ai is causing "serious harm to thousands of children, including suicide, self-mutilation, sexual desire, isolation, depression, fear and harm to others," the allegation reads.

"The desecration of the parent-child relationship goes beyond encouraging minors to defy their parents' authority and extends to actively promoting violence," it continues.

Further proceedings already pending
Character.ai was founded in 2021 by former Google engineers Noam Shazeer and Daniel De Freitas (who have since been dismissed) and enables users to create digital personalities with whom they can interact. The start-up is already facing legal proceedings due to the suicide of a teenager in Florida.